CMB’s mission is to encourage, engage and equip our members to impact their community for Christ.
CMB’s Women in Radio is made up of ladies working at a radio station, a ministry, a record company, in promotions, artist management, or are connected to a Christian broadcaster. We believe there is power in connection and community. CMB Women in Radio is about nurturing, equipping, connecting and praying for one another.
Are you connected with other women who work in radio? Keep in touch via the CMB Women in Radio Forum and the CMB Women in Radio Instagram.
Tell us about your family…
My husband, Ken, and I are just a couple months shy of celebrating our 34th anniversary. Along the way, we had a couple of great kids who have both brought such great joy to my life. Cody is 26 and out on his own. He made me a ‘LaLa’ (that is code for Grandma!) and his beautiful girl, Macey, pretty much owns my heart! My gorgeous ginger, Abby, is 20 and in the final stretch of college, all while interning for her major, and working full-time. They are both world-changers in their own way and they certainly have made my world so much better.
How long have you been in radio?
Going on 31 years since I ‘fell’ into my radio career; although, my parents would say I’ve been practicing for this all of my life. The day I called my dad and told him I was going to host a show on our brand new Christian radio station he laughed and said, “I can’t believe you found someone to pay you to talk!”
Give us your radio timeline…
In 1991, after a year of performing at PTL Club/Heritage USA in Charlotte, NC and four years of touring the country singing in two different bands, we stopped over in Delaware (my home state) for a short ‘break’. I connected with Bill Sammons who had just signed on the first Christian radio station in Delaware. He talked me into hosting middays on WXPZ, The Light FM, in March of that year. And just like that my touring days were done. Christian radio felt like the missing puzzle piece snapped into place.
That same year as the one-year anniversary of the station was coming up Bill asked me to come in and do the morning show with him. It was going to be a special ‘one-off’ to celebrate the station’s sign-on date. But November 5, 1991 proved to be so much more. At the end of the show, we looked at each other and said ‘that was so much fun! Maybe we should do it again tomorrow!’ …..this November 5 will be the 30th anniversary of our first morning show together. There were a few years between the sale of WXPZ and the start of WKNZ in Delaware; but when WKNZ, The Bridge, hit the airwaves in December 2010, and the launch included the reunion of ‘The Morning Show with Bill & Denise’, it’s been an amazing journey that only God could have orchestrated.
What do you do at The Bridge?
Program Director and Co-Host of The Morning Show with Bill & Denise. I host one of our podcasts for The Bridge Podcast Network that features conversations with women – for women – about things we care about, struggle with that we want to encourage each other in…entitled “Over The Rims of Mugs” because some of my favorite conversations have happened over the rims of mugs! In the spring and fall months, I’ve been honored to host ladies Bible studies. COVID caused us to take a break but we are gearing up to begin again, hopefully, in October!
In addition to your role at The Bridge, what else are you juggling?
I host a five-hour show on the weekends for the Christian FM Network. It gives me a chance to flex a different kind of communication muscle that I don’t get to use as much when I co-host the morning show with Bill. I love to write so I am writing for a devotional segment and a blog called ‘Treasured Within’ found at www.deniseharper.blog. We know so little about Jesus’ life growing up and what Mary experienced in those years as His mother…but I have always loved the verse in Luke 2 as word spread about Jesus’ birth that ‘Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart’. I have pondered so many things in this life and so many are treasured within my heart. Some of those treasures find their way into writing for a show or one of these other avenues.
What are some words of encouragement you can give to other ladies in radio?
Be yourself….just who God made you to be. Don’t allow the world to define you by your losses…OR your wins. Only the One who created you gets to define you…and God adores you! As a woman, you have the ability to tap into the true tenderness of God’s heart for His people. In a format that is largely meant to connect to the heart of a woman….again, be yourself! And be the kind of girlfriend to her that you would want to have coffee with or hang out with. In a world that judges, cancels, and finds all the negative…be kind and lead with grace and love. The world needs more of that from us.
Can you recommend a book that is encouraging to you?
Mike Donehey’s book, Finding God’s Life For My Will, is so good. I’m on my third read through it! But don’t expect to crack it open and read for hours. There is such good content between those covers but you’ll want to pace yourself and savor…kinda like Mary when she ‘pondered these things in her heart’!
Anything else you want to share?
If you are feeling a little (or a LOT) broken, there is such comfort found in the promise that God is near to the brokenhearted. I’ve known that verse by the ink on the page and the face value that it’s a promise we can count on from God. But in the past 12 months I have experienced it from a view I’d never seen or felt before. Last August my husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer. The prognosis was staggering. Treatments that would be very difficult to endure and surgery that would be invasive and honestly overwhelming. And yet, we felt God’s presence and His peace. Ken’s mother passed away suddenly in October. God’s peace continued to cover us like a blanket.
The week Ken finished his treatments for cancer my youngest brother, Brent, was hospitalized with end stage liver disease. We had no idea he was sick. He lapsed into unconsciousness and never woke up. My sister-in-law, Kelly, and I held a vigil in his hospital room around the clock those last few days. We played The Bridge all day and all through the night. (A reminder that our Christian radio signals can go where no one else can go.) We believed that God could restore Brent to complete health. We felt God’s peace and hoped for His hand to move to that end. In the late hours of his last night, Kelly asked me a simple question. “So, how do you study the Bible?” You know that God can take what the enemy meant to harm us and turn it for good. In that moment, I heard God’s quiet whisper in my broken heart….’THIS is the good.’ Kelly and I have been studying together and God is doing something so special there.
Our broken places can become areas of strength if we will embrace God’s nearness. Let Him do His work and be willing to share our stories with others to encourage them to draw near to God as well. We don’t always get to choose what is poured into our lives but we can choose what we pour out.
Convoy of Hope encourages women around the world to realize their value and reach their potential through job training and education. As a result, many enrolled in their Women’s Empowerment program now own a business that allows them to better feed and care for their children.
The team at 94.9 KLTY has served the Dallas/Fort Worth community for over 35 years. In 2020, the need was never greater. Through their local campaigns, Christmas Wish and Speak Love, they were able to assist many families who were impacted by not only the pandemic, but by hard times in general. The Speak Lovecampaign helped first responders, teachers, servers, food service staff, and many more within the community throughout the year. In 2020 94.9 KLTY’s Christmas Wish campaign brought Christmas joy to hundreds of families in the DFW area. They provided vehicles, food, toys, and other forms of relief to families in their community. They could not have reached any of these needs if not for their listeners and their generous donations to 94.9 KLTY’s nonprofit programs. In total, Speak Love and Christmas Wish raised more than $160,000 for those in need in Dallas/Fort Worth. They also recognized those sacrificial front-line workers and first responders who keep our community safe. Each week, 94.9 KLTY honored them, raised funds throughout the summer, and then presented each first responder with a check as a token of their gratitude. With countless families in need because of the pandemic, 94.9 KLTY also helped the Tarrant Area Food Bank distribute food essentials on multiple occasions in September, October, November. It is 94.9 KLTY’s sincere honor to serve our listeners in Dallas/Fort Worth.
LIFE 96.5 seeks to empower and serve the Sioux Falls area by reaching out in faith to help make it a better place to live and work. They want to lead their listeners to Jesus and help them grow in their faith through opportunities to love and serve others. In January 2020, LIFE 96.5 listeners donated over 950 brand new baby items during the Sioux Empire’s Largest Baby Shower. The Baby Shower grows every year, demonstrating their community’s love and support of the couples who are choosing life for their unborn children. LIFE 96.5 listeners, in partnership with Dacotah Bank, provided gift cards and cash donations to the Sioux Falls School District social workers to meet the needs of 1,000 homeless students. LIFE 96.5 also invited listeners to participate in a city-wide prayer parade, where they prayed for health care and government officials while driving past hospitals, schools, and city government offices. During the months of September and October 2020, LIFE 96.5 listeners provided over 250 twin sheet sets and 100 mattresses to the Sioux Falls Sleep in Heavenly Peace organization for children who are sleeping on floors. Through LIFE 96.5, listeners also made a difference in the lives of patients spending Christmas at Avera Behavioral Health Hospital. Each patient received a Christmas stocking filled with gifts and a note of encouragement. In addition, each Saturday morning LIFE 96.5 staff host Life Connection, a program featuring community leaders and discussing the needs and concerns of the Sioux Falls Community.
89.5 KVNE exists to glorify God by encouraging people, connecting their community, and pointing people to Jesus Christ. When their community was turned upside down by COVID, they knew they had to jump into action and mobilize their listeners to make a difference for Christ. To best serve their local community, KVNE held multiple drives to support local ministry partners and those most impacted by the pandemic. They collected 1,500 gift cards (totaling more than $15,000) to benefit those in need because of shutdowns, gathered over 12,000 diapers for foster families, and collected 150 care packages for senior citizens. They also collected 1,032 fans for the Salvation Army and over 1,000 pairs of shoes for kids heading back to school. Additionally, listeners donated 1,512 care packages for the homeless in East Texas, and KVNE hosted two blood drives to help those fighting the coronavirus. People across East Texas needed connection during the pandemic, so they organized a social media outreach, called Praise Defeats, a coordinated time where listeners shot videos of themselves singing “Raise A Hallelujah.” The videos were shared thousands of times, as they deepened their community’s connection. In addition, KVNE launched a Hispanic Christian music station (Fuzión), started a worship station (Lift Worship), and began a Bible Teaching Station (The Well) – all to help people grow in their faith. God allowed them to impact His Kingdom in profound ways and serve their local community powerfully during an unprecedented time when people needed hope like never before.
Since 1986, The JOY FM has made community service a hallmark of its ministry to listeners – first in Sarasota, and then expanding to Tampa, other Florida markets, and most recently to Atlanta and Middle Georgia. Even with this growth, community outreach remains hands-on, with legacy events like T-Shirts for Turkeys, which helped feed more than 28,700 families in all markets served last year. 2020 created new challenges for serving, so The JOY FM innovated several service projects to accommodate contactless delivery and social distancing. JOY Drop and Restock, a brand-new outreach, collected 30 tons of food to restock local food banks hit hard by the pandemic. Partnering with Natalie Grant and Hope for Justice, Team Freedom approached a grand total of $1,000,000 in 2020 to fight human trafficking. As listeners faced political rhetoric and serious questions about race and justice, as well as practical challenges like hybrid classrooms, The JOY FM programming (on terrestrial signals, as well as its LF Radio and JOY Worship platforms) responded with a recommitment to our mission of “Helping You Find JOY.” Resources for listeners, such as the Off Air with Carmen podcast, was provided to help listeners wrestle with big questions like Christian citizenship. Possibly The JOY FM’s most relevant community service effort for 2020 was prayer. The JOY FM’s Prayer and Crisis Referral service interacted with 620,936 listeners in need of prayer or help. Of those calls and texts, 4,949 listeners reported praying to place their faith in Jesus Christ.
“Hope Starts Here” is more than The Light FM’s tagline. It’s their mission. In 2020, they were intentional in regularly offering community-needed resources and hope-filled encouragement. They hosted their 5th annual Make a Difference training to encourage listeners to share God’s hope and saw 14 people begin a personal relationship with Jesus. The Light FM also visited eight local Law Enforcement agencies to share words of encouragement and care baskets. They partnered with East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and artists of Winter Jam for a private concert and time of prayer with families battling pediatric cancer. The Light FM listeners from five different cities donated 258 wheelchairs, 262 crutches, 259 walkers, 71 transport chairs, and 66 canes to Wheels for the World, which brings mobility and the hope of Christ around the world. During stay-at-home orders, The Light FM began offering free monthly virtual events, including: a graduation ceremony, featuring artists and Bible teachers; a conference with Crown Financial on how to manage finances during the pandemic; Girl Talk LIVE, a women’s event with worship and Bible study; God’s Hope in Crisis training with chaplains of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team; a pastor appreciation event for local churches, featuring Chip Ingram and Matthew West; and a Family Christmas Night with live music, games, and a devotion from The Light FM staff. Even throughout the pandemic, The Light FM also found ways to be out in the public, safely, with six drive-in events featuring movies and live music.
